Deadline nears to claim $10,000 prize for Houma lottery ticket

Thursday

Jan 17, 2013 at 10:51 AMJan 19, 2013 at 12:14 AM

A lottery ticket bought in Houma is worth $10,000 — but its owner hasn’t turned it in.

Matthew AlbrightStaff Writer

A lottery ticket bought in Houma is worth $10,000 — but its owner hasn’t turned it in.Purchased at the Shell station on St. Charles Street on Aug. 8, the ticket is one number away from the perfect jackpot-winning ticket, 03-07-11-15-28. It even has the right Powerball number, a 12. The lottery corporation didn’t give out the exact numbers on the winning ticket.Though the ticket won’t net its owner millions, it does qualify for the lower $10,000 prize. But the person who bought it has either lost or forgotten about it, or is unaware it is still worth serious money. And the deadline for claiming the prize is closing in fast. If someone doesn’t show up at the Louisiana Lottery office by 5 p.m. Feb. 4, the ticket becomes just another slip of paper.Unclaimed winning lottery tickets are surprisingly common, said Janie Shipe, manager of the station that sold the ticket.“They have millions of dollars that have not been claimed,” Shipe said. “This does happen from time to time.”Five Powerball tickets, including the one in Houma, and two MegaMillions tickets remain unclaimed state-wide. All seven are worth $10,000 each. Lottery spokeswoman Kimberly Chopin said it’s not uncommon for tickets to go unclaimed for long periods of time, though most end up getting cashed in. The lottery gives players 180 days to claim their prize. After 90 days, a notice is posted on the lottery website, louisianalottery.com, in case a player missed the original announcement. Chopin said people frequently claim their tickets more than 90 days after buying them. The last big winner, for example, claimed a ticket on Tuesday that she bought in November. “She had left the ticket in an old purse and had forgotten about it,” Chopin said. “It wasn’t until months later that she just so happened to see it and figured out she had won $250,000.”Chopin said lottery players should be careful with their tickets. “Sign the back, and keep them in a safe place where you’ll be sure to check them,” she said. “Treat your tickets like cash.”Shipe said inexperienced lottery players often don’t realize they can win smaller prizes even if they don’t match all the numbers. “There’s all kinds of different ways you can win,” Shipe said. “I think people should get the game guides that you can get with the tickets because those tell you what you need to know.”Shipe also pointed out that her gas station and many others have scanners that can figure out if a ticket won anything. “If you come here looking for help, we can have somebody put it under the scanner, and we can tell you what you’ve got,” she said. Talk of lottery prizes inevitably gets people wondering what they’d spend the money on. Local residents said they’d mostly spend the money on practical things, like paying off debts and bills.“I’d pay off my bills, become debt free,” said Laura Dufrene. “Then whatever is left, I would put aside for the lean times.”Paying for school is also a popular option, especially for Nicholls State University students and their parents. Others said they’d spend the money on other people.“I’d tithe 10 percent then pay some bills,” said Lorna Robichaux. “Then I’d finish paying for my son’s Europe trip.”

Staff Writer Matthew Albright can be reached at 448-7635 or at matthew.albright@dailycomet.com.

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